I would respectfully disagree with your comment. Each party going to the extreme is “statism”. I collection of socialism, fascism, communism, and hybrids of more and more gov’t control.

The opposite of statism would be anarchy, i.e. no govt. A republic is much closer to anarchy that any of the aformentioned statist types of gov’t.

The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they created a republic and allowed the states to create a federal branch subject to many checks and balances.

Sadly, the “extremists” have usurped that goal to the point that we now find ourselves at a crossroads. We are forced into making our choices (republic or statist) and face the consequences of the necessary actions needed to choose a direction i.e. revolution or submission to statism.

I personally have chosen being a republic with a gov’t based on the constitution as written and interpreted by out founding fathers. I gave up my long standing membership in the Rep. party after Bush 43 was elected and proceeded to continue to create a more statist path for the USA.

I am a conservative, darn proud of it, and will do what is necessary to protect my country from becoming a statist gov’t.

Extreme Republicans are elitists, that are openly accepting nationalization of our industries for the purpose of dictating how the masses should live, regardless of “economic equality”. This is a Fascist concept.

As a FReeper posted in a thread yesterday, It’s important to understand the difference, because while both systems are ultimately Statist, the way each achieves their goals is fundamentally different. It allows us to expose the methods our adversaries are using more effectively, because we have historical models (i.e. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) from which to compare.